Overdose visits have more than doubled in Windsor-Essex. Here is what officials have and have not answered
Windsor-Essex opioid overdose ER visits: 96 in Q3 2025, 199 in Q3 2026. We asked officials what happens next and if they back a joint local task force. Our deadlines passed with no yes or no. Many questions are unanswered.
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Updated 4:25 p.m. ET on Friday, Oct. 23: Health Canada replied at 4:15 p.m. ET. Its answers are added below. The other offices have not replied since our last check.
Windsor-Essex's overdose numbers are climbing, and many of the questions Windsor News put to the offices that could respond are still unanswered. Health Canada sent written answers at 4:15 p.m. ET, but as of 4:25 p.m. ET on Friday, Oct. 23, no office has said yes or no to a joint local overdose task force, and none has committed to a joint public update.
What the numbers show
The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit's opioid dashboard, updated Oct. 15, shows hospitals reported 199 opioid overdose emergency visits in the third quarter of 2026, up from 96 a year earlier. The third quarter is still being finalized. From January to September the dashboard shows 526 visits, compared with 341 in all of 2025. The health unit has issued six public overdose alerts this year, up from two in 2025.
What we asked
On Oct. 17, Windsor News sent the health unit, the Ministry of Health, Health Canada and MPPs Lisa Gretzky, Andrew Dowie and Anthony Leardi the same core questions. What are you doing now? What will you do next, and by when? Will you join a joint Windsor-Essex task force? Will you commit to a joint public update? We asked for replies by noon on Oct. 21. On Oct. 21 we sent follow-up questions to the health unit, the ministry and Gretzky's office, with a deadline of noon on Oct. 23. Shortly after 1:20 p.m. on Oct. 23, we sent a copy of this story to the health unit, the ministry, Health Canada and MPPs Gretzky and Leardi, and gave them until 3:50 p.m. ET to answer.
Who answered
Health unit: It replied Oct. 21 with a statement that said it has received "multiple credible reports from community partners indicating that medetomidine, a powerful veterinary sedative, is present in the local unregulated opioid supply," and that "available data do not currently show a corresponding increase in overdose-related deaths." It did not answer the task force or joint update questions. The dashboard's confirmed death charts run only through the first quarter of 2026 and do not show exact counts. None of the six 2026 alerts mentions medetomidine. Six follow-up questions sent Oct. 21, due by noon Oct. 23, were unanswered as of 4:25 p.m. ET.
Ministry of Health: A spokesperson for Health Minister Sylvia Jones replied Oct. 21 with a statement that said "Since HART Hubs opened, the Office of the Chief Coroner has shown a 43% decrease in opioid-related deaths." It gave no Windsor-Essex funding, capacity or data and did not answer the task force or joint update questions. Seven follow-up questions sent Oct. 21, starting with how the 43% was calculated, were due by noon Oct. 23 and were unanswered as of 4:25 p.m. ET. The coroner's latest published quarterly summary, with data as of Aug. 5, counts 389 opioid-related deaths in Ontario in the first quarter of 2026, about the same as the 398 in the fourth quarter of 2025. We have not found a published coroner figure showing a 43% drop. The periods and measures may differ, which is why we asked.
Health Canada: It acknowledged our questions on Oct. 19. On Oct. 20 it asked whether our deadline was flexible, and we agreed to noon on Oct. 23. On Oct. 21 it said it hoped to be in touch early today. The noon deadline passed, and no answers arrived by our 3:50 p.m. deadline. At 4:01 p.m. ET a spokesperson said Health Canada was still working on a response. At 4:15 p.m. ET, after this story was first published, Health Canada sent written answers, with some of our questions merged by topic.
Health Canada said it is not leading a Windsor-Essex-specific response to the reported increase. It said "Local overdose response and service delivery are led primarily by provincial and local authorities, while Health Canada contributes national surveillance, drug analysis, funding and technical expertise."
It did not say yes or no to a joint local task force and did not commit to a joint public update. It said "Decisions regarding the establishment of local or regional overdose response tables and joint public updates are generally led by provincial, territorial, and local authorities."
On funding, the only Windsor-Essex-specific amount Health Canada named was $338,000 this fiscal year, through its Substance Use and Addictions Program, to the East African Community Resource Center for a project focused on Black youth and their families in Windsor-Essex. It did not give a regional total. It also pointed to the national Emergency Treatment Fund, $150 million over three years beginning in 2024-25, and did not say how much of it has gone to Windsor-Essex.
On new federal action, Health Canada described the Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy and Canada's Border Plan, including a $1.3 billion national investment to strengthen border security and combat the illegal fentanyl trade. It did not name any new action for Windsor-Essex or give a date. On medetomidine, it said it is "aware of and concerned about" its presence in the illegal drug supply and is working with the Canada Border Services Agency to address illegal importation.
On data, Health Canada said it and the Public Health Agency of Canada do not collect data at the municipal level. It said national and provincial data, the latest through the first quarter of 2026 (January to March), show that in Ontario opioid-related poisoning emergency department visits and emergency medical responses for suspected opioid overdoses "have begun to increase", though the data are preliminary and may be incomplete. It said opioid-related deaths "seem to have stabilized so far in 2026 in Ontario." Those figures are for Ontario, not Windsor-Essex.
Andrew Dowie: He replied Oct. 20 with HART Hub figures and said the province provides about $6.3 million a year for three years. He did not say whether he supports a joint task force or a joint public update, and did not say what changes are planned to the hub or the provincial response.
Lisa Gretzky: She replied Oct. 21 with a statement. She said she joined NDP colleagues in calling for a provincial overdose task force in August 2025 and will raise the issue at Queen's Park when the Legislature returns on Oct. 27. She did not say whether she has raised this year's deaths with the health minister or whether she supports a joint local task force. Four follow-up questions sent Oct. 21, due by noon Oct. 23, were unanswered as of 4:25 p.m. ET.
Anthony Leardi: He has not replied to our Oct. 17 questions, which had a noon Oct. 21 deadline, or to the copy of this story we sent him with a 3:50 p.m. deadline, as of 4:25 p.m. ET.
The HART Hub
Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, one of the hub's lead organizations, said Oct. 22 that as of Oct. 20 the hub has admitted 176 people to treatment beds, with 33 living independently on rental supplements, 23 in transitional housing and 23 in treatment. It said 266 people are on a waitlist of about three months. It did not answer four of our questions: whether the hub has targets, how many of the 28 people reported to have completed treatment remain in recovery, how its figures fit with the earlier 98 served and 28 completed figures, and whether the hub will change in response to the rise in overdoses. We sent those questions again on Oct. 22 with a reply date of noon on Tuesday, Oct. 27. That deadline is still open.
What is still unanswered
The deadline for the health unit, the ministry, MPP Gretzky and Health Canada was noon on Oct. 23. The health unit, the ministry and MPP Gretzky did not answer by the 3:50 p.m. deadline we gave them with a copy of this story. Health Canada answered at 4:15 p.m., after that deadline, and its answers are above. Hôtel-Dieu Grace's deadline, noon on Oct. 27, is still open. The questions that remain are exact counts of confirmed and suspected overdose deaths in Windsor-Essex, a public medetomidine advisory, the basis for the 43% figure, Windsor-Essex funding and capacity from the province, and a yes or no on a joint task force with a date for a joint public update. Health Canada did not give a yes or no on a task force or commit to a joint update, and did not say what new federal action, if any, is planned for Windsor-Essex or when. We will update this story if any office answers.
If someone may be overdosing
Call 911 and give naloxone if you have it. Naloxone does not reverse the sedation caused by medetomidine, but it treats the opioid part, and the person still needs emergency care. ConnexOntario: 1-866-531-2600, 24 hours. Never Use Alone (NORS): 1-888-688-6677, 24 hours. Free naloxone kits are available at participating pharmacies without a prescription or health card.
